Trouble in the MooT

Hidey hole

Secret, secret, who's got a secret

As it was getting dark, the new constable (Natina) and her deputies returned down the hill to the healer’s shrine and after shooing away some curious visitors entered the shrine to discuss the days events with Geddragg, Salvik and Ovilar. (Link and the Old Man were missing from the adventure tonight) After talking about everything that went on, including the Watch List they had found, they decided to investigate more thoroughly the next morning and returned to the Laughing Cow to get a good night’s sleep. Geddragg and Link stayed with the healer to recover.

The next morning, Salvik met Geddragg at the healer’s shrine and, along with Ovilar, went to the cemetery to find the stone (they hadn’t been there) A short time later constable Natina, Mitiliano and Gozbert followed from the inn. Arriving, Gozbert showed how to open the headstone. (4 keys inserted in 2 neighboring headstones deactivated wards that latched the stone shut) and Geddragg, Salvik and Ovilar went down (Ovilar slipped and fell half way) into the bunker where they searched. Parchment on the table was dry and brittle, but there was still ink in the stoppered inkwell. The skeletal corpse on the floor was most likely rat and insect eaten. The clothing tattered to shreds. The scrolls on the shelves were mostly crumbled, but the books and tomes were salvageable. There were four in good enough shape to save as they were loosely bound between covers of wood. They were titled:
History of the People of Averland and Stirland
Ciphers and codecs
Houses of the Empire
One Foot in the Grave

Geddragg had JUST discovered a loose stone behind one of the books when a shout came from above … “Bandits! We need your help up here!”
Four bandits had almost gotten the drop on the three standing guard by the stone. Constable Natina had an arrow cut her shoulder enough to start bleeding. Being small and frail, she had to bind her wound fast. The enemy was using grave markers to their advantage for cover.
Salvik, knowing he was slow (movement of only 2) let Geddragg up the ladder first. Geddragg hustled up the ladder and behind a monument where he cast a protection spell on himself. Salvik got to the top of the ladder but no further, Ovilar yelled impatiently from below Salvik.
The battle raged … well, it plunked. Natina managed to bind her wounds and make two archers drop their bows. Salvik made it out just before the wards on the stone reactivated and the stone closed leaving Ovilar cursing below. (The first group had already discovered that it closed on its own accord after a short time (about 10 minutes) but had not told Geddragg or Ovilar.) In the end, the bandits were killed, the bunker reopened and Ovilar tended to the wounded while Gozbert and Salvik looted the bandits. They must have recently robbed a caravan or something … they had a good amount of silver for common thugs. One even had a flintlock, though it was in poor condition.

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After the fight was over, Gozbert reopened the bunker for Ovilar to get out. Geddragg then went back inside and methodically searched the bunker. He discovered a bag of gold and gems and a stick with 3 leaves at one end (still living apparently) and another secret compartment under the bed. That one was not so easily opened and the box extracted (poison gas and mechanism that latched the box in place if the headstone was open) Ovilar offered to keep the books safe in the healer’s shrine. The box has not yet been opened.

The group also tried to figure out who was the name on the headstone and why was Sty Lum constantly coming up here. Ovilar thought it was to visit the grave of his grandfather. They searched around and found a marker with the name Finneous Lum about 5 graves away. Ovilar said he had only been in Grunhugel a little over a month and didn’t recognize the name.